Physicians Practice - September 2008 - (Page 21) NATIONAL SHAME FOR THE DOC WHO HAS EVERYTHING IT'S LIKE LANDING AIRPLANES AT O'HARE AIRPORT. FOR PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS IN PARTICULAR, EVERY DAY IS THE WEDNESDAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING AT O'HARE. THERE IS JUST NO PLACE FOR THEM TO GO.” —Ken Duckworth, medical director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, in Newsweek, on the abysmal state of care for uninsured psychiatric patients Talk about a creative ancillary service. We’re impressed with how orthopedist Mike Crovetti has leveraged the trauma of broken bones into something beautiful — and profitable. After bending a metal reconstruction plate into a ring shape during a tricky surgery, Crovetti noticed the aesthetic beauty of the thing, made one for himself, and wore it everywhere. Others took notice, especially his athlete patients, many of whom “wear” such hardware on the inside. Now, he’s marketing both men’s and women’s lines of jewelry crafted from these heretofore purely functional chunks of metal. You’ll find them in three locations in Las Vegas, including the Hard Rock Café, or online at www.skeletalmetal.com. P4P = PAY FOR (ANY) PERFORMANCE? Some researchers think so. After analyzing the performance of more than 90 percent of Massachusetts’ primary-care physicians between 2001 and 2003, there was indeed a 73 percent improvement with some common preventive care measures, such as HbA1C testing and well-child visits, among others. Problem was, everyone improved at that same rate, regardless of a physician’s participation in a bonus-paying P4P program, or lack thereof. But maybe that’s not so surprising, when you consider the size of the bonus of most P4P programs. In the U.S., it typically runs about 5 percent of plan payments. Compare that to the U.K., where primary-care physicians have seen their incomes nearly double since the 2004 rollout of a government-sponsored performance incentive. You may think that British docs’ salaries rank low because of the U.K.’s socialized medicine setup, right? Think again: Even before their P4P plan began four years ago, family physicians across the pond were pulling down £70,000 a year. That’s about $140,000 here — just a tad shy of the average salary of a comparable U.S.-based doctor. Money talks. Big money talks a lot. Percentage of medical students who aspire to be practice-based physicians. Source: Epocrates 70 Percentage of students who feel unprepared to take on the business aspects of medical practice. WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM STAT Medical software company Epocrates asked 900 medical students about their experiences, views, hopes as America’s future physicians. Here are two illuminating data points: 60 SEPTEMBER 2008 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | 21 http://www.skeletalmetal.com http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM
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